Flaunt!

FLAUNT uses the principles of burlesque to help women strip away everything nonessential that's covering their raw, beautiful souls in order to reveal the sparkling goddess lurking inside them. All too often, women have been taught to hide their true selves with costumes, characters and masks, creating a persona to show the world that pleases others and acts as the "good girl," doing what is expected. Though perhaps necessary to function in careers or as mothers, these layers all too often begin to chafe and restrict, suppressing the true spirit and self. Lora Cheadle found herself "trapped" in the persona of lawyer she'd built, and realized that she wanted to discover and flaunt the spirit inside. To do this, she had to peel away layers, and so she studied burlesque, which taught her the tease of revealing her body. Applying those same principles to not just her physical self but her inner core, she discovered a new way to be in the world, a way that energized and fulfilled her spirit as no "persona" could do.

Lora believes that women deserve to be seen, and she means seen as who they truly are, not just the personas they've put on to please others. Women are all too often hobbled factors that lower their sense of worth. Sometimes its external factors such as sexism, ageism, racism, and other times internal factors such as body shame, mommy guilt, or the ideas, stories and beliefs they hold that may no longer be true. Lora wants them to strip down emotionally, intellectually, and maybe even physically, so they can reveal their whole self to the world exactly who we are, with divine, uninhibited authenticity.

Lora discovered that for her, the laughter, parody, and joy in the face of taboo and judgment that burlesque provided were the ideal medium for healing wounds around body image, sexuality, self-judgment, gender roles, power, shame or guilt. Without setting foot on an actual stage, many of her clients were able to strip out of the fear, lies and inhibitions that have been placed on them by their culture, family, religion or themselves.

With her empowering and delightful new book, Lora guides other women through the process, giving them the encouragement and tools to explore their inner lives in new ways. Her approach is deep but also a whole lot of fun, with movement, storytelling, exploration, parody, role-playing, and invigorating joy. Flaunt will help women break out of self-judgment and wash away expectations of self and others. They will cultivate rock solid self-worth than can no longer be undone by criticism or failure and inoculate themselves from shame by healthily exposing their fears, flaws, and failures. Lora calls herself a life choreographer because she helps women dance through their lives, sometimes with well-plotted steps and other times with improvisation, but always with sass and vitality.